Phygital. Where and how we could intervene in the customer journey to provide a better customer experience.

Abstract

The idea behind the analysis is to understand the customer journey and identify the various touchpoints in which a company could intervene to provide a better customer experience. First of all, it is crucial for brands to have a clear idea of who they are addressing, what are the peculiarities of the target they have selected and draft a detailed brand persona. These elements help linking the brand with the audience segment and are the basis for creating a remarkable connection between them. Once this first step is completed, it is fundamental to understand the customer journey, the entire experience a customer has while communicating with a brand. It considers the complete interaction roadmap from brand awareness to purchasing and advocacy. The focus is not on transactions, but rather on how the customer feels throughout all the journeys. Intervening along the roadmap has beneficial effects both on the clients who can enjoy an improved experience and for the company who can reinforce its competitive position by augmenting the volume of sales and customer retention. In this thesis, the interventions analysed are phygital solutions, elements that balance the physical experience with the digital one for improving the experience in physical retails or showrooms. The paper, after a review of the literature on this topic, would explore the context and business environment surrounding the term phygital. Moreover, the analysis dives into different case studies, where phygital is implemented for variegated purposes across different industries and various company sizes. Besides, some gamification practices will enter the discourse as tools that enable a business to unleash ideas and identify phygital intervention points along its customer journeys.